The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus and to a plasma processing method using the same suitable for uniform plasma processing over a large area, which works specifically under a low gas pressure in a processing step using plasma such as plasma etching, ion doping, plasma CVD film formation, sputtering film formation, etc. for fabricating semiconductor devices, etc.
As prior art techniques for this kind of plasma processing apparatuses there are known those reported e.g. in J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B9(1), January/February 1991, p.26.about.p.28. In this paper it is described that a magnetic field similar to that formed by a solenoid coil used as means for generating a first static magnetic field described ibid. p.29.about.p.33 can be realized by means of permanent magnets. In this example permanent magnets for replacing the solenoid coil magnetic field should be huge.